Noah played 20 minutes for the Bulls in his preseason debut Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons but he is still experiencing discomfort in his groin.

"We're going to shut Jo down," Thibodeau said. "He's got a little soreness, so we want to make sure we get that taken care of. Probably another week or so, but we just want to make sure he's completely healthy before we move forward."

Noah has been showing improvement in recent days, but Thibodeau wants his top defender to be ready when the game start to count.

The Bulls open up their regular season Oct. 29 against the Miami Heat.